Review of Two Recent Transuranic Intake Events at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory*
D.A. McLaughlin (Operational Safety Services Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,* Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831)
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides internal dosimetry support services including in vivo and in vitro monitoring for UT-Battelle, LLC, employees as well as individuals who work for other Department of Energy (DOE) Prime Contractors. The ORNL Internal Dosimetry Program, accredited by the Department of Energy Laboratory Accreditation Program (DOELAP) for Radiobioassay, also performs dose assessments to accurately measure and calculate internal occupational radiation doses received from a wide range of circumstances involving transuranic radionuclides in indoor and outdoor airborne exposure scenarios. Several metabolic modeling assumptions are necessary to accurately evaluate the intakes, including a modification to the rapidly dissolved fraction (Fr) applied to americium and plutonium by the ICRP 66 lung model. One valuable means for confirming intake estimates based on a collection of urine, fecal, and lung counting measurements is to compare radiobioassay results with workplace characterization measurements. Such methods should be considered in assessing internal occupational exposures using the models currently available to the DOE Contractor community.
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*Managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.